The deadline is nearing for entry into the nationals at Campo di Bocce. There will be Open, Volo, and PRV. Time to make your mind up if you are In or Out. I hope to see you there, and if you play against me...be kind.

Locally we are finishing up our indoor season and hope to be outdoors in a few weeks. There's nothing like bocce in the open air! During the summer we play informally at a different court each Monday morning. Some courts are at residences, others in the public domain. Always great fun!

Wayne Farinacci, Tournament Director for the Marshall Superstore Cleveland International Challenge Cup of Bocce provided a terrific response to a recent posting from Michael Cannon re: how his Chico, California bocce group could muster some help from city officials.

Cannon wrote…

“What we need from you is simply an email back with some information we could pass along to our city council.

Here are some issues you could address.

1. The success of your bocce courts in terms of revenue and the amount of play.

2. How bocce courts contribute to a sense of community

3. How bocce might figure in to the recreational activity of your city and of seniors especially

4. How your courts we're built and how they are managed successfully possibly in terms of a public/private partnership

5. And really anything you can think of that might persuade individuals who might not be familiar with bocce that the idea of public courts is a good one!”

Farinaci’s excellent response…

“I live in Mayfield Hts., OH, a suburb of Cleveland. We are living proof that a city committed to its citizens' interests can work hand in hand for the mutual benefit of both. The City of Mayfield Heights built five bocce courts in the mid 1980's in the City Park. Men and women from our community used these courts every night of the week from 7:00 until the park closed at 11:00pm. Bocce leagues and open play was prevalent for over 20 years. The bocce courts at our city park served as our piazza, a place where friends would meet nightly. And then, four years ago, it got remarkably better!!

Mayor Greg Costabile wanted to have a bocce tournament held in conjunction with the City's Unity Days Festival and asked me if I would organize it. I have been organizing major bocce tournaments for almost 30 years now, so I agreed to do it. I am fortunate to belong to a great bocce club called Club Molisani. After presenting Club Molisani with this idea, all were in agreement that we should hold the tournament. We had 56 teams the first year. In fact, we could only accept 60 teams in order to complete a double elimination tournament over a three day weekend. With the success of our tournament in the first year, we ran to the Mayor and informed him that five courts would not permit the tournament to grow. Due to the growing interest in bocce, the five courts were not enough to hold leagues and open play for the people in the community either. The number of bocce players really started to increase.

As a result, Mayor Costabile and City Council agreed to build three more courts. We now have 80-some teams that participate annually in the Marshall Superstore Cleveland International Challenge Cup of Bocce. The tournament has become a cornerstone of the City's Unity Days Festival. The City even built a flower garden, complete with a fountain, next to the three new bocce courts. New bathrooms were built and a large concrete pad was also included. And then last year, it got remarkably better!

Mayor Costabile and City Council decided to cover the courts. The five original courts were covered with a huge pavilion measuring about 90 feet by 80 feet, very well illuminated and no poles inside the structure. Our league and open play will enjoy a season without rainouts! We are very fortunate to have an Italian-based community and a Mayor and Council who have created a special recreational area for its constituents to enjoy. Members of Club Molisani and people from the community help maintain the courts. This year, the City will assess leagues a $10 per court per night fee to help defray the cost of electricity. The fee will be assessed only from Memorial Day to Labor Day. When the good people at Marshall Superstore came on board in the second year of our tournament, it really jumped up a notch. In addition to many teams from throughout Ohio, we now have teams from Canada, Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Maryland, and Florida as regular
entrants in our Marshall Superstore Cleveland International Challenge Cup of Bocce tournament. In a relatively short time span, we have created a successful triangle of bocce excellence. With local government (City of Mayfield Heights), commercial support (Marshall Superstore), and enthusiastic worker bees (members of Club Molisani), Cleveland has become the bocce hub of the
Midwest.

I am not sure where we are headed, but I know it is upward. Club Molisani has just purchased a large hall that will be converted into three indoor synthetic bocce courts, a card/game room, and a large food and beverage area. Our membership is growing and our new hall will entice even more new members, including a ladies’ auxiliary. This summer, the City of Mayfield Heights will be offering a co-ed league and an under-50 bocce league to compliment the men's and women's leagues that have been playing for years. And Marshall Superstore is selling some great cars! What else can you ask for?

I would encourage you to have your city officials contact Mayor Greg Costabile. I am certain he will be able to convince your city officials to follow the blueprint that has been established in the City of Mayfield Heights. Please let me know if you need any additional information. The Marshall Superstore Cleveland International Challenge Cup of Bocce will be held August 19, 20, and 21, 2011. We encourage all readers of the Joy of Bocce e-zine to join us this year.”

My son and I are working on another video on bocce balls, but it is slow going as he and I both have so many projects going on at the same time. We want it to be something useful and helpful to people, so we keep on making changes. Hope to have it posted on YouTube soon. Patience is a virtue!

My group is running the Massachusetts Senior Games Bocce once again (I'm on the Mass. Senior Games Board of Directors). We'll host it this year at the Sons of Italy Lodge #902 at 155 Marston St. in Lawrence, Massachusetts. See the listing below under Tourneys on April 30, 2011.

Our non-profit group is the Ken Waldie Senior Sports Circuit, Inc. We're named after my friend Ken Waldie who was on one of the flights that hit the WTC on 9/11. We play senior sports (age 50 and up) in bocce, basketball, and softball. Ken was the only guy in the history of the Naval Academy to be elected president of his class all four years - a remarkable accomplishment! Learn more about Ken here:

If you'd like to make a contribution to our organization that keeps Ken's name alive and provides healthy physical activities for seniors, click here and know that it will be appreciated and put to good use.

And come and join us for bocce if you will be in the neighborhood on Saturday, April 30. You'll have a great time on three carpeted courts, dine on fine Italian food, enjoy spirited bocce play and vie for CMBBR (Commonwealth of Massachusetts Bocce Bragging Rights!).

Attached is all of the information you need for the National Mixed, Men's, and Women's Doublette Tournaments in Fresno, California on May 14 & 15.

Attached are:

FPUSA forms for each tournament

An Information Sheet outlining a number of Affiliated Activities for the weekend.
An order form for all tournaments and Affiliated Activities
Directions to each of the activities and basic information about hotels in the area.

If you have any questions, please contact me here. I'll do what I can to help.

"I recently moved to Tuckerton NJ, 1/2 hour north of Atlantic City. I cannot find any Bocce courts in Ocean County. Many courts in private communities but I can't afford the house to live there. Can you help with a location near me? I need to get back to Bocce."

We should all be card carrying members. Every club should be affiliated. For the sport to gain the attention it needs we need to boast of many thousands of members. Download a USBF Membership Application here:

I'm continuing to permanently re-post some of the old photos of the week. These are now part of Bocce Venues on the Joy of Bocce website. They were originally submitted by Boccemon’s Tom McNutt back in 2002.

They show the bocce courts at The Custom House Plaza in Monterey’s Historic Park.

Tom tells us that the Plaza is next to Fisherman’s Wharf.
“If you find yourself at the far end of Alvarado Street, go to the Cooper Molera Complex. It is also adjacent to the Double Tree Inn complex. It's a great part of coastal California.”

The three courts are 12’ by 72’. According to McNutt “They play quite well for public courts and some maintenance equipment is available if you’re not happy with things.”

He adds that “Players can go directly to Pebble Beach after morning Bocce and sneak in a round or two, then come back for Sunset bocce.” Life is good!

{Please follow Tom's lead and send bocce photos from different areas of the USA. I'd love to post them here.}

I’ve seen all kinds of home-made court maintenance brushes and scrapers. Two things have always struck me about them. 1 – they look like they are home-made and 2 – they tend to be HEAVY.

7' Drag Brush

Manufactured by Lee Tennis (makers of the Har-Tru surface material), this court maintenance tool created for tennis courts works exceptionally well for bocce courts. The 7-foot drag brush is light-weight and, even if you have a 13- or 14-foot wide court, you can smooth it over with just two passes. This is quick enough to do between games without keeping players waiting very long.

Bristles are 4 ½ inches of synthetic fibers and the strong but light-weight frame is aluminum. Retails for $179.95 plus shipping.

Lute/scarifier

This strangely named 30” wide device is actually two implements in one. It is an all-aluminum combination tool for scarifying, leveling, and removing loose court material.

Strong and sturdy, the tool is light enough to handle with ease and is excellent for spreading new material during top-dressing. The concave shape of the 30” wide blade allows the tool to “float” along the surface without digging in. Use the serrated edge to scrape material from high spots, then flip the tool over to rake and smooth that spot and drag the loose material to fill in a lower point. Retails for $69.95 plus shipping.

Besides a heavy roller, the lute/scarifier and 7-foot drag brush should be all the maintenance tools a bocce court owner needs.

Please - anyone running a tournament - do me a favor - put a notice near your tourney bracket board informing players that they can go to http://www.joyofbocce.com and "opt in" for my FREE Ezine on bocce. Click the logo to the right to opt in if you do not already receive this ezine every Monday.

Please consider designating someone as "official event photographer" and directing that person to send snapshots for us to reproduce as photos of the week. Our readers love seeing bocce action from around the continent.

June 3, 4, 5, 2011. Pennsylvania - Bessemer. The 2nd Annual USAbocce.com 4 Person Tournament for The Special Olympics will be held at the Bessemer Croatian Club. More information will be posted @ http://www.usabocce.com/ . This will be the highest pay-out tournament in Pennsylvania."

Check out the first-rate equipment we offer. The finest measuring devices for bocce (made in UK by Prohawk for lawn bowling, petanque, and bocce) - the finest bocce balls in the world (made in Italy by Perfetta) and the number one selling instructional book on bocce in America - Check them out.Check out the merchandise